Method for linking stockings and apparatus for carrying out said method



Jan. 20, 1970 c. coN'rl 3 49 9 METHOD FOR- LINKING STOCKINGS AND APPARATUS FOR v CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD Filed March 31, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 LOOP STITCHING CLIPPING OUT EXCESS FABRIC Fig.7

BRUSHING OUT *3 OVERCASTiNG INVENTOR ATTORNEY c. CONT! 3,490,396 METHOD FOR- LINKING STOCKINGS AND APPARATUS FOR Jan. 20, 1970 CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD Filed March 31, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet Jan. 20, 1970 c. CONTl 3,490,395

METHOD FOR" LINKING STOCKINGS AND APPARATUS FOR 7 CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD Filed March 31, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 v INVENTOR Czar Cani Jan. 20, 1970 c. CONTI 3,490,396 METHOD FOR LINKING STOCKINGS AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD Filed March 51, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 lOl' Fig.6A

INVENTOR. CESARE CONTI Jan. 20, 1970 c CONT! 3, 0,

METHOD FOR LINKING STOCKINGS AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD Filed March 31, 1966 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR Cesare .Can i ATTORNEY C. C METHOD FOR-.LINKING STOCKINGS AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD Filed March 31, 1966 e Sheets-Shet e Fig.7A

CESARE CONT! INVENTOR.

United States Patent Office 3,490,396 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 3,490,396 METHOD FOR LINKING STOCKINGS AND APPARATUS FOR CARRYING OUT SAID METHOD Cesare Conti, Viale Francesco Crispi 5, Milan, Italy Filed Mar. 31, 1966, Ser. No. 539,207 Claims priority, application Italy, Apr. 10, 1965, 8,090/65 Int. Cl. D05b 7/00 US. Cl. 112-25 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The tips of stockings are seamed by sewing the tip of the partly-finished stocking with a loop stitch, trimming the sewn fabric which projects out of the sewn seam, brushing, and overcasting. The loop-stitching unit is mounted on a conventional circular linking machine in advance of the overcasting unit; and the loop-stitching needle is at a level higher than the working plane of the overcasting needle. The vertical working plane of the loop-stitching needle is disposed angularly outwardly of the working plane of the overcasting needle so as not to intersect any impaling pin of the linking machine during penetration into the fabric.

This invention relates to a method for closing the tips of socks and stockings, and to a device for putting said method into practice, and to the products obtained thereby.

More particularly, the present invention relates to the closing of the tips of partly-finished socks or stockings, as they come out of the circular machines for closing the tips.

This tip-closing operation which should not be confused with the re-stitching of ladies stockings in which a few meshes have laddered, is usually performed on machines which are called circular linking machines. These machines,

well known in the art, essentially consist of a circular ro-.

tatable plate from whose periphery there protrude radially a plurality of pins on which the partly-finished socks or stockings are impaled as they come out of the circular hosiery machine, and of a sewing needle arranged adjacent the circumference of the impaling-pin carrying plate. The needle in a conventional circular linking machine of the type described, coacts with one or more hooks so as to produce a one-thread or two-thread overcasting so I as to close the tip of the stocking, as this latter is discharged, with its tip open, from the circular hosiery machine.

Closing of the tips, by employing the machines and the methods of the prior art, is an operation which demands of well-trained personnel, great care, toil and a considerably waste of time. As a matter of fact, the closing of the tips can be satisfactorily carried out if, and only if, the material to be completed is transferred on the impaling pins exactly, mesh after mesh, so as to make sure that all of the meshes without any exception, are taken by the sewing needle. It is apparent that a manufacturing step of this kind appreciably retards production on account of the necessity of threading the partly-finished article, one mesh after another, on the impaling pins.

It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to facilitate the tip-closing operation by allowing a quicker, less toilsome and more convenient performance thereof, both where overcasting linking machines are used for closing the tips of socks and/0r stockings, and where they are used in an analogous manner for applications to combined underwear and hosiery articles.

This invention is characterized by an improved process for linking with modified overcasting linking machines having the following stages of machine operation:

1) Sewing with a loop-stich the tip of the partlyfinished stocking, by mounting the knitted fabric quite at random, on the pins of a modified linking machine, without requiring threading of each and every individual mesh on the impaling pins. The loop-stitch can be of the single-thread type (US. Bureau of Standards No. 101) or of the twin-thread type (US. Bureau of Standards No. 401).

(2) Clipping out the excess fabric, beyond the sewing seam, by means of a clipping knife.

(3) Brushing out.

(4) Overcasting.

In order that the above outlined sequence of operations may be carried out, it is necessary that the conventional overcasting linking machine have a loop-stitch sewing unit, arranged with a certain angle of advance with respect to the conventional overcasting sewing unit on taking into account the direction of rotation adopted for the plate which carries the impaling pins.

It is also deemed in order to observe, before passing to the detailed disclosure of both the method and the machine, that the artifact as produced with the inventive method and machine can be easily identified, without any doubt or question, by anyone skilled in the art, from the characterizing presence of the single-thread or twin-thread loop-stitch in the linking area.

Still more detailedly, the loop-stitch unit according to this invention will be located on the linking machine so that the working plane of said unit is slightly raised with respect to the working plane of the overcasting sewing needle.

Moreover, another important feature of this invention is that the additional loop-stitch unit is driven by suitable drive-transferring means (belts or gears) so that the number of stitches made by the loop-stitch unit is, with respect to the number of stitches made by the conventional overcasting unit, in a ratio between 1.5 to l, and 4 to l. the preferred value of said ratio being 2 to 1.

In the latter case, the position of the loop-stitch forming needle will be not only raised with respect to the overcasting needle, but will also be angularly offset with respect to the impaling pins, so that the loop-stitches are all made between the pins instead of on the pins. The overcasting needle is conventionally operative only, and always on the pins.

In practice, the loop-stitch sewing with a stitch, which is very short as compared with that of the overcasting (US. Bureau of Standards No. 502 or No. 503 for twothread overcast, and No. 504 for three-thread overcast), fulfils the important function of sewing or locking all the meshes which have not been caught in the impaling pins, whereas the conventional overcasting stitch sews or locks the meshes threaded on the impaling pins and masks the edge as trimmed out by the clipper. Thinner sewing sea-ms are thus obtained along with an appearance which is much more attractive for the finished article.

The invention will now be illustrated with reference to a preferred embodiment thereof, depicted without any intended limitation, in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a block diagrammatical showing of the flowsheet of the inventive method.

FIGURE 2 is a simplified plan view of a linking machine equipped with the inventive loop-stitching unit.

FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the loop-stitching unit according to the invention.

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the loop-stitching unit of FIG. 3.

FIGURE 5 shows on an enlarged scale the singlethread loop-stitch US. Bureau of Standards No. 101.

FIGURE 6 shows on an enlarged scale the twin-thread loop-stitch US. Bureau of Standards No. 401, and

FIGURE 6A is an enlarged fragmentary view of a portion of a knitted seek, the toe of which has been seamed together by stitches made in accordance with the loop-stitching unit disclosed herein; and

' FIGURES 7 and 7A are two perspective views of a linking machine incorporating the device according to the invention.

Having now initial reference to FIGURE 1 of the accompanying drawings, the linking process of the invention is illustrated in block diagram. The following steps of manufacturing stages are denoted, by the numerals 1, 2, 3, and 4.

(1) LOOP-STITCHING This is performed with a single-thread or twin-thread loop-stitch (FIGS. 5 and 6, respectively), on a plane which is disposed slightly higher or above that of the needle-guiding groove of the impaling pins. For example, for a linking machine having a gauge of 22 impaling pins per inch, the plane will be raised by about 1.0 to 1.5 mms. and the number of pins will be twice that of the subsequent overcast sewing seam 4.

(2) TRIMMING WITH A CLIPPER This is made on a plane which is at a level slightly higher than the plane in which the loop-stitching takes place. For example, still for a machine having a gauge of 22 impaling pins per inch, the level rise will be 1.0 to 1.5 mms. The trimming operation can be found in the usual linking machines and does not require any special comment.

(3) BRUSHING This is performed with a conventional rotary brush so as to remove the lints of projecting threads before passing to the (4) OVERCASTING This is performed with two threads (U. S. Bureau of Standards 502 and 503) or also with three threads (US. Bureau of Standards 504 and 505). This operation is carried out with the conventional overcasting unit of the usual linking machines.

The simplified showing of FIGURE 2 is illustrative of the respective positioning of the loop-stitching unit 10 and of the conventional overcasting unit 20: there is an angle of advance, alpha of the unit 10 with respect to the unit 20 by assuming, as shown in the drawing, that the rotation of the pin-carrying plate is clockwise. As a general rule, because of the need to provide room for the trimming and brushing components at the periphery of the linking machine between the loop-stitching unit 10 and the overcasting unit 32, the angle of advance alpha as shown (FIG. 2) is greater than 90 and is at any rate a function of the angular space requirements for the trimming, brushing and overcasting units.

FIGURES 3 and 4 show, in plan view and in perspective, respectively, the loop-stitching unit according to the invention. From a structural standpoint, the loop-stitching unit 10 is a conventional sewing unit and the following members are noted therein: a drive transferring member 11, preferably drivingly connected to a drive transmitting unit 32 (FIGS. 7 and 7A) for the overcasting unit 20 (FIG. 2) so as to observe the ratios above suggested, a bell-crank lever 12, an adjustable .pitman 13 with universal joints which, through a crank 13' transfers the drive to a needle-carrier 16 and thus to the needle 17. A bellcrank lever 14-14, connected at its innermost end to the principal arbor 18, transmits the drive to the hook 15. The constructional features of the loop-stitching unit 10 afford the paramount advantage that the drive transfer is obtained with a minimum number of links and joints.

The drive transferring member 11 is connected to the overcasting unit 20 through the same link 11' which actuates the brushing unit 31 (FIGS 7 and 7A). As in certain conventional linking machines, the operating levers for the over-casting unit 20, and the trimming unit 30 (FIGS. 7 and 7A), are connected to a primary drive shaft 22; and the link 11 is connected by a crank pin 24 to an auxiliary drive shaft 26, which is geared to the primary shaft for rotation thereby at a rate depending upon the desired ratio of loop stitches to overcasting stitches. Finally, FIGURES 5 and 6 show, respectively, the single-thread loop-stitch called No. 101 and the twinthread loop-stitch called No. 401, whose presence characterizes the seams made with the method and the device according to the present invention. More specifically, FIG. 6A illustrates, for example, two superimposed layers of a sock represented by threads or yarns 504 and $05, which are seamed together by a conventional twin-thread overcast stitch represented by the threads 502, 503, and by a single-thread loop stitch 101 made by the unit 10 disclosed herein.

Lastly, FIGURES 7 and 7A are perspective views of a linking machine in which the inventive device is shown in its mounting relationship with other parts of the machine. The drawing shows only those parts of the linking machine which are necessary to give a clear understanding of the general organization of parts, the same numerals of the preceding figures being adopted to connote identical parts.

In FIGURES 7 and 7A the conventional overcasting unit is not shown in detail, but it is placed in the mounting relationship, with respect to the inventive loop-stitching unit 10, as diagrammatically but clearly depicted in FIG. 2.

FIGURES 7 and 7A show also the other parts of a conventional linking machine, such as the trimming or clipping unit 30 and the brushing unit 31, as well as the plate 33 which carries the impaling pins 34. The drive transmitting unit 32 is shown very diagrammatically in the upper left hand orner of FIGURE 7 and this must be kinematically connected with the usual overcasting unit in the manner described herein with particular reference to FIG. 7A, so as to satisfy the ratios between the number of stitches of the overcasting unit and the loop-stitching unit as discussed in detail hereinbefore.

Summarizing, the method and the device according to the present invention allow to achieve in an easy and economically satisfactory way the following technical advantages:

(a) The possibility of converting the existing linking machines by simply attaching a supplemental loopstitching unit thereto.

(b) A high output in a unit of time inasmuch as the original linear speed of the machine is maintained because the overcasting needle makes only one stitch per impaling pin.

(c) A very attractive look of the finished sewn article since the thickness of the sewing seam is small: as a matter of fact, there are only two seams, that is, the loopstitch and the overcast.

(d) A high resiliency of the seam, since the seam consists of a loop-stitch having a length which is one half that of theovercast stitch.

It should be observed finally that the loop-stitching needle will receive a feed movement in the point of needle as the overcasting needle, but in a few instances this movement can also be dispensed with inasmuch as the motion of the impaling pins with respect to the loopstitching needle will be but a fraction, which can vary from 1:1 to 1:5 with respect to the movement of the overcasting needle.

What is claimed is:

1. A process for seaming closed the open tip of seamless hosiery articles With overcasting linking machines of the type having circumferentially arranged fabric-impaling pins, comprising impaling on said pins superposed portions of the open tip of a partly finished seamless hosiery article,

sewing a loop stitch seam in the superposed portions of the article in a plane located slightly above the plane containing said pins,

trimming with a knife the portion of the article projecting above the sewing seam,

brushing the seam, and

overcasting the superposed portions of the article in a plane beneath the first-named plane.

2. A machine for closing the open end of a partly finished seamless hosiery article, comprising a linking machine having thereon a plurality of angularly-spaced fabric-impaling pins arranged in a circumferential path on said machine and mounted to rotate in a common plane about the axis of said path, and adapted to have impaled thereon superposed portions of the open tip of a partly-finished seamless hosiery article, with at least a plurality of courses of said article projecting above the plane of said pins,

a loop-stitching unit mounted at a first station on said machine adjacent the outer periphery of said path and having a loop-stitching needle movable to sew a loop stitch in said superposed portions of said article in a plane spaced slightly above the plane of said pins, and

said machine having overcasting means thereon including a second needle operable at a second station angularly spaced from said first station in the direction of rotation of said pins, and operable to sew at least one further stitch in said superposed portions of said article beneath said loop stitch, and in the plane of said pins.

3. A machine as defined in claim 2, wherein said first and second stations are angularly spaced greater than from one another about said axis.

4. A machine as defined in claim 2, wherein the working plane of the loop-stitching needle operates in a plane disposed slightly above the operating plane of the needle of said overcasting means.

5. A machine as defined in claim 2, wherein the vertical Working plane of the loop-stitching needle is angularly shifted outwardly with respect to the Working plane of the overcasting needle so as not to intersect any impaling pin during the step of penetration into the fabric.

6. A machine as defined in claim 2, including drive means interconnecting said loop-stitching unit and said overcasting means whereby the loop-stitching unit is driven so that the number of stitches made by said loopstitching unit is, with respect to the number of stitches made by said overcasting means, in a ratio of from 1.5:1 to 4:1.

7. A machine as defined in claim 6 wherein said ratio of the number of loop-stitches to the number of overcast stitches is 2:1.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,871,806 2/1959 Bley 11225 X 2,973,730 3/1961 Schweda et al 112-162 3,353,510 11/1967 Reeber et al 112162 2,948,240 8/1960 Burd et al 11225 2,980,917 4/1961 Slane 2-239 3,090,963 5/1963 Wittrnan 2239 3,119,360 1/1964 Mayer 112-25 3,221,688 12/1965 Marforio 112162 MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner GEORGE V. LARKIN, Assistant Examiner U.S. c1. X.R. 112162 

